


Almost With You

by LordValeryMimes



Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: Angst, M/M, Mistaken Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 19:43:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6022459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordValeryMimes/pseuds/LordValeryMimes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set during series VIII. An alternative reunion between Lister and Rimmer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Almost With You

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little ficlet that sprung to mind after I saw screen grabs of their reunion in series VIII. I can't promise I won't someday cannibalize this, and make it a part of something bigger. 
> 
> Thanks again to janamelie for being my awesome beta.
> 
> Thanks to Rob Grant and Doug Naylor for inventing these characters so I could make them get up to all sorts of smeg.

Lister’s heart stopped the moment the whisper of the familiar voice caressed the skin of his ear. Before his heart had a chance to resume pulsing, he’d leapt from the chair, imprisoning his visitor in a bone-crunching embrace. With a mighty thump his heart came back to life, throbbing against his chest like a bass drum. It pounded a heavy tattoo into the chest of the other man, who stood rigid with shock.

“Oh Rimmer, man.” Lister murmured, as he pressed his face into the tall man’s chest. “I’ve missed you _so_ much, Rimmer.”

“Listy? What are you…” Rimmer started to raise his hands to push Lister away, but the smaller man clung to him, keeping his hands firmly bound at his sides.

“No.” Lister’s voice was raw with emotion. “I’m not letting you leave. Not again. Not ever.”

“What the smeg are you…” Rimmer’s voice was tinged with equal amounts of alarm and confusion, but Lister pressed on, refusing to let him speak.

“I can’t lose you again, Rimmer.” Lister pulled away and looked into the taller man’s eyes. “You don’t know what it was like, being away from you. You don’t know how much I missed you. I dreamed of you, do you know that?”

Rimmer squirmed uncomfortably, “I don’t know what you’re…”

“I thought you’d come back. But you never did. I waited so long, Rimmer. So long.”

“Lister, I…”

“I promised myself I wouldn’t let another chance pass me by. And so I’m not going to.” Without another word, Lister leaned forward and pressed his lips full against Rimmer’s. The other man stiffened in shock, his eyes wide as Lister held him close, his hands on either side of his face. Lister pulled away, just long enough to let out a soft sigh, and murmur, “I love you, Rimmer.” He pulled his bunkmate to him again, his lips soft and urgent as he kissed him hungrily.

Rimmer stood paralyzed with fear and confusion as Lister fell upon him. “ _Stop!_ ” He yelled suddenly, his cry muffled by Lister’s lips. He raised his hands and pushed Lister away violently. Lister staggered as he tried to keep his footing. He gazed up at Rimmer with hurt in his eyes.

“But, Rimmer? I thought… I could have sworn…”

“What the smeg is wrong with you? I come in here and you start kissing me and telling me that you love me? Have you gone completely insane? What are you thinking?” Rimmer's face was red with anger, his eyes dark.

“But I thought…” As Lister stared sadly up at Rimmer, his vision clicked into sharp focus. The uniform, it was wrong. Rimmer never wore that old uniform anymore. Rimmer’s face was older, but it was missing something. This was not the face of someone who had lived and died twice. This was not the face of someone who had been to the edge of the universe.

“I can’t believe you, jumping on me like some love-sick spaniel! It’s disgusting Lister! No wonder you’re being…”

“You’re not him.” Lister’s shoulders slumped as the words fell from his lips like heavy weights.

“What are you talking about?”

“I thought you were him. I thought you were mine come back. But you’re not. I’m sorry.” Lister turned away as tears started to fill his eyes. He didn't want Rimmer, this other Rimmer, to see them.

“What do you mean? ‘Yours come back’? Your what?” The anger in Rimmer’s voice was softened and diluted with confusion.

“I’m sorry,” Lister’s voice cracked on the last syllable, and he ran from the room.

Rimmer shook his head as he watched his bunkmate’s retreating form. “What the smeg was all that about?” He straightened out his uniform self-consciously as he walked shakily to the lower bunk and sat down. He took a few deep breaths, as if he was recovering from a brisk run. He exhaled once more, letting it out slowly as he raised a trembling hand to his face. He traced his fingers slowly across his lips, and sighed.


End file.
